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Barbie is a Lesbian

'Barbie is a lesbian' shirt suit settled4/2/2004

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City public schools will allow students to wear clothes with political slogans after settling a lawsuit with a teen-age girl who was suspended for wearing a T-shirt that said "Barbie is a Lesbian," her lawyer said on Thursday.

"Students in the nation's largest school district will now have the First Amendment right to wear T-shirts and armbands that express controversial political views," attorney Ronald Kuby said.

Some 1.1 million students attend New York City public schools.

The city also agreed to pay $30,000 to Kuby's client, 15-year-old Natalie Young, a lesbian who was sent to the principal's office in April 2002 when she showed up at her school in the Queens borough wearing her "Barbie is a Lesbian" T-shirt.

She refused to change and was suspended for the day and threatened with further suspension if she wore it again.